Friday July 21 - Montserrat

We took a day trip out of Barcelona to the Montserrat mountains to a monastery.  The mountains have great jagged peaks, like dragon teeth, and strange rock formations.  

The Monastery, beautifully situated, has a famous Madonna with child statue – Vision of the Virgin Mary or Dark Lady – with lots of gold trim.  The wood the statue is made from has turned black over time.  The monastery has a lovely gothic courtyard.  But we missed the boys’ choir, as they were on vacation.  

We took a funicular up to a nearby mountaintop where we had views down to the monastery.

There are also a number of hermitages on the mountain.  None of the hermitages are in use today.

The religious shrine of Santa Cova, also referred to as "The Holy Grotto".  This is a religious pilgrimage site where the image of the Virgin Mary was believed to have been sighted inside a cave.  We didn't to there. 

And there great views of the nearby mountains and the lowlands in the distance.

 

And we took a hike. 

 There was a wedding at the monastery while we were there. 

Then it was back to Barcelona where we turned in the car.  We walked down Passeig de Gracias to Placa de Catalunya.  It is a beautiful big plaza with two big fountains.  

Wind was blowing strong, so lots of mist from the fountains.  Josh took off his shoes and got soaked playing in the mist.  

The plaza was loaded with pigeons. 

So we joined many others by pulling out some of our cookies and feeding the pigeons.  

They are so tame that Jessica ended up with two or three sitting on her hands and shoulders.  

Eventually one sat on Josh’s shoulder, but I don’t think he liked the claws.  

There were statues all around the square and fountain.

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Other photos in the area. 

We ate dinner at the nearby Burger King…incredible wood paneling and a wood paneled balcony…definitely not the usual fast food décor you’d see in the states…and then strolled along Las Ramblas.  It is a lovely pedestrian boulevard with flower stands, pet stores, street artists and lots of people.  A happening street.  

There was a van with loudspeakers and a very long line of marchers/demonstrators with signs about Bosnia.  Went on for 45 minutes.  Very orderly.  

We would see intersections with a Burger King and McDonalds or Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds everywhere around the city.  Unfortunately, the American fast food is being exported so much, although it helped with Josh’s allergies finding something familiar.  We also found a Haagen Das.  Ice cream is always welcome.

Jessica finally found some shot glasses.